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OPINION

Should we post 'In God We Trust' on public schools? | Guest column

A few Sundays ago, a 93-year-old Christian gentleman attended a discussion, sponsored by Humanists of the Treasure Coast, regarding a proposal from Florida legislators to mandate the posting of "In God We Trust" on public school buildings. This gentleman suggested the posting would motivate children to be more ethical and that "In God We Trust" has always been our nation’s motto.

The facts are "E pluribus unum" (from many one) was considered the United States motto until 1956 when Congress adopted "In God We Trust" as the official motto. There is also no evidence that children from religious families are more ethical than children from secular humanist, atheist or agnostic families.

If we require the placement of "In God We Trust" on all public school buildings, students from families that don’t find any evidence for the existence of a God would see their family’s beliefs undermined every time they entered a school building. To be fair, would we then allow posting "There Is No God" on other buildings to placate the non-theists?

According to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 23 percent of Americans describe themselves as non-religious. That’s millions of Americans, and the number grows with every survey.

Humanists acknowledge the joy religion brings to believers. We honor that and feel it belongs in people’s hearts, homes, places of worship and private schools. It’s preferable for public schools to remain a religious neutral zone, free of sectarian slogans.

While posting religious slogans and prayers seems acceptable to some, it’s offensive to others — as New York Board of Regents officials learned decades ago when they proposed the following prayer to be read in public schools: “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence on thee, and we beg thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our country.”

Parents from Jewish, Ethical Culture and some Christian religions, joined spiritual (but not religious) parents to file a lawsuit challenging the prayer. They argued school prayer violates the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black agreed, and the court ruled in 1962 that government written prayers were a violation of the U.S. Constitution. Even though today’s Supreme Court might rule that such postings are legally acceptable, doing so would pit conservative and liberal Americans against one another, increase divisiveness, and lead to expensive and avoidable lawsuits.

Founding father James Madison, author of our Constitution explained, "The purpose of the separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has so soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries."

Evangelist Billy Graham seemed to agree when he said, "It would disturb me if there were a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it."

Some say that our country was founded on the Christian religion, others point out that our nation’s first treaty was the Treaty of Tripoli, which stated, "The United States was not in any way founded upon the Christian religion."

The American policy of keeping government and religion separate has enhanced the growth of religion in our country. While religion still gets government support in many European countries, church attendance there is much lower than in the U.S.

Many also fear that churches relying upon government funding will lose the courage to criticize governmental practices out of a fear they will lose governmental support.

Essentially, there is no benefit to Florida’s residents if posting "In God We Trust" is implemented.

Let’s follow the advice of 1981 Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, who said, "Can anyone look at the carnage in Iran, Northern Ireland, or the bombs bursting in Lebanon and question the dangers of injecting religious issues into the affairs of state?"